Hal, first of all congratulations on owning a great pair of speakers. When I was auditioning speakers several years back, I just loved the Sophia 3s. For what its worth, the Sophias I auditioned were driven by a BAT ss amp. I heard Watt Puppy8s the same day driven by a pair of BAT tube monoblocks, and I much preferred the Sophias with the SS amp. I love tube amps, but the Sophias driven by SS outclassed the Watt Puppies driven by tubes on that day. One of the most musical systems I heard. |
Thanks Hal for the kind comment about my system. |
Charles thank you for your response..I feel another journey has started as now I am on the era of single end triode's and I had a very high entusiasm and curiosity for trying many 845, KT66, 88-90-120's even 300B's..I count on wilsons for that manner because the flat response make it quite suitable for both solid state and tubed amplifiers..but sincerly I prefer tubes and tube sound..specs also are valuable but only I trust to my ears, I believe still physics doesnt defines the difference between solid state and tube design..but ears could understant this..by the way your system looks wonderfull congrats.. |
Hal123,
It seems you trust your ears and choose based on what you hear, that's commendable. You weren't enamored with high power specs, congratulations on obtaining the Quads. I didn't know the Sophia was so easily driven, I like good quality lower power amplifiers(with appropriate speakers).
Regards, |
For whom is interested..I added Quad II mono blocks (15 watts on KT66), very good match with sophias. My respect for my speakers are improved they are singing like birds, off course vintage Quads are a big part of this contribution..They did miracles 40 years ago, very surprising to hear that they run side by side with krell on 600 watts class A..I love this hobby.. |
Nagra is one of my considerations..thank you for your very valuable feedbacks, before trying is not possible to comment but anyhow i am digging to find a gold. another consideration a conrad johnson lp275 but is gonna cost me a fortune anyway if you have also experience on conrad johnson running with wilsons are quite valuable thank you again and happy listenings to all |
I don't know about Melody's P-SETs, but I can say the Melody M845 SET which I own is quite nice. If the bigger ones retain the magic at higher power, they are definitely worthy of consideration. |
Nagra was the PP 845 I had in mind....Melody also makes them. Im not a fan of Cary 805s and frankly, they measure terrible for SET. |
I assume that I also think not all 845 are equal, thats matter of design and equipment structure that defines the sound criteria...but I really dont understand what the distortion makes good sound could anybody clear this subject...if we audiophiles like the distortion (as some describe as to be) how you gonna define the good sound as a bunch of distortion...man I am getting confused here..maybe this is gonna take another threat subject..very interesting and confusing matter. |
Hal123,
Mcintech's comment is based on actual listening experience rather than
speculation and has legitimate value. All 845 amps aren't created equal so
some will be more successful than others. It appears the Nagra VPA 845
amps would be a very good choice. I understand your interest, at CES this
year I heard the Absolare Passion 845 PSET 50 watt amplifier completely
outperform the SS MSB amplifier driving the magnificent Rockport Altair
speakers in a very large conference room set up. It was quite a startling
contrast.
Regards,
Regards, |
Cary 845 is 50W, but to what load? What is delivered power to 4Ohms? 3 Ohms? Please check an amplifier frequency/load detailed map. Usually manufacturer will shara one with you and you will see what level of distortion and power you're dealing with before experimenting. Distortion of tubes(may reach upto 10%THD for difficult loads) is what makes sound wonderful, but far away from real recording material, if that is your goal. |
My wilsons have 4 ohms of impedance and does go deep on 3,1 ohms minimum..I assume they got flat response but still have feeling that they goes well on solid state radher than tubes (but many users declared as tubes for best matches). Carry 845 ae is 50 watts with zero negative feedback and have 211 tubes together with 300b running in parallel mode, using 845 or (211) together with 300b is the unique and only design used. and this make 845ae very interesting.. I can use also 845 tube with them resulting less dynamic and some saying romantic sound. I am now running my wilson sophias 3 with krell 600c and have no problems and thinking that is a good match..but as an audiophile that never stops wondering I am curious to drive them with tubes, 211 or also OTL's..
My dealer have one pair of 845ae and offered me a good deal, when I listened those amps that he plugged on verity audio rienzi's (knowing that not more efficient than mines) had good soundstage but limited detail and sparkling..
Another my consideration would be nagra 845 tubes, having same power as carry's..
still need to know your experiences for wilson sophia 3 owners,
many thanks for your kind and valuable responses |
Hi there,
Wilson has at least one pair of Nagra VPA 845 Class A P-P amps (50WPC) in their evaluation room, so an 845 amp would be a match made in heaven.
(Disclosure: was Nagra's US service eng. And we always had Wilson's at CES hooked to our VPA's. Wonderful synergy). |
wilson impedance goes bellow 4 ohms which will result terrible distortion in these regions of the frequency/impedance plot. will this distortion sound great to ears, i don't know, but will definitely be not accurate recording material playback. any professional acoustic or recording engineer would be terrified by this decision. moreover, the unused power to the load will return back as a heat causing early tube failures.
it's one of the audiophile toys to try to drive giant speakers with small tube amp or set and try to convince that little set can drive anything. |
I assume you meant the Cary 805ae which uses the 845 (and 211) tube.
I use that Cary on my Magnepan 3.6's from time to time (rotate it with Pass ss). The Maggies have a very flat impedance graph which tubes like. Even though the Wilsons might be more efficient they could actually be a worse load for tube amps and especially single ended ones. To best advise, the "minimum" impedance and phase angles come into play.
If your Wilsons don't have any severe impedance dips and you don't play your music very loud, I think you will like pairing. |
push/pull 845 should work fine with them. i know the originals were spec'd at 30 watts or something like that. the only Wilson that is easier to drive is ironically the X2 |
you can if you don't need a full range and dynamic performance. only good for vocals and compressed recordings. |
